Author's note: For those of you who have already read the first three chapters of this story, you will notice some changes, most notably the shift from Chief to Emperor and the like (suggested by the wonderful spookykangaroo). This is the most updated version of the story, and hopefully the version that will not have formatting errors. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, they belong to Bryke and nickelodeon

It had been 100 years since the last avatar died. Some said a new avatar, an air nomad, was born as the cycle dictates. But in the fragile years between the death of the old and the growth of the new, there were those who believed that the world would be better ruled by one. And so, nations turned on one another, brother fought against brother, element against element. But no one expected that the victor who would rise from the blood of the fallen would be the Southern Water Tribe.

Gone was the simple group of hunters and fishermen who lived placidly in igloos and blindly followed the traditions of their ancestors. Corruption ran rampant. Blessed with an exorbitant number of highly gifted waterbenders, these warriors quickly grew in talent and ruthlessness. Their modest village transformed into a weaponry fortress, isolated from their enemies by the dangerous waters of the South. From their stronghold they were able to create safe channels by which they traveled to all the nations of the world to declare superiority. The leader of the Southern Water Empire, Emperor Lokai, first declared war on the Northern Water Tribe, and quickly absorbed the city into the Southern Water Empire. He then sought out the next avatar, an airbender, who he planned on using to secure the Water Empire's dominion. However, upon arriving at the Southern Air Temple, where the child was rumored to be studying, the young airbender was nowhere to be found. And when the Air Nomads there would not reveal the child's location, he eliminated them, as well as the entire population of airbenders, deciding that if the child would not assist him in his quest for power, he would not let him get in the way.

Emperor Lokai ruled the empire for the greater half of his life, but there were those who dared to oppose him. After the birth of his second son in his 66th year to a Northern harlot, a group of undercover Fire Nation rebels assassinated the Water Emperor as he slept in his chambers. All seven rebels were captured and executed publicly the day of the Emperor's funeral. His first-born son, Toonu, assumed the throne as the new Water Emperor at only 18 years old. Despite his young age, under his rule the war began a steep slope into what would be the bloodiest war in all of history. It was during this reign that bloodbending, a dangerous and violent bending technique, was discovered. It became mandatory training for all waterbenders, but it was soon determined that only certain benders could handle the immense physical power and psychological consequence of such a bending form. The Emperor's younger brother, Prince Hakoda, became one of those benders, and in his 16th year, killed the Emperor before he had an heir, and thus took over the throne. His father and brother's legacies were continued by this young, yet vicious ruler; in his second year of rule the Water Empire overthrew the Earth Kingdom, which had been weakened by constant pressure from both the Northern and Southern Water tribes, and in his eighth year, Emperor Hakoda began the attack on the Fire Nation. Swiftly he became the most feared Water Empire ruler in history, if not for his powerful bending abilities, then for his style of rule.

Public executions were almost a daily occurrence, a symbol of his low tolerance for disobedience. Because of his cruel demeanor, he was impossible to oppose in nearly every aspect of his life. He fathered his first child when he was only 18 to a girl from the South who worked in the palace, whom he made Water Empress, if only for appearance. To his great misfortune, the baby was a girl. It was no secret in the Water Empire that, upon hearing his first-born was female, he fully intended to drown her in the ocean, and even attempted to do so, for one tradition the Water Empire had upheld was that the heir to the throne be male. However, it was rumored that when the baby touched the water, the water began to glow. Only mere hours old, the Water Empire Princess displayed extraordinary waterbending abilities, and the Emperor knew that as she grew her powers would only grow with her, perhaps to even exceed his own.

Therefore, the Water Emperor allowed the girl to live, and, breaking tradition as he so often did, decided that she would become his heir. He named her Katara.

Two years later the Emperor fathered a son with a Northern harlot and named him Sokka, but was disappointed to learn that the child did not possess any bending abilities.

Throughout their lives, Emperor Hakoda tested his children against each other, and both were hardened by their father and the war that he continued. He forced his children to attend all Council meetings and every execution in the town square. The most skilled waterbending masters were found to teach Katara the basics, and her father personally taught her bloodbending, of which he considered himself a master. Sokka was trained as a warrior and fought his first battle at 12 years old. His father was delighted to learn he had killed four Fire Nation enemies.

The Fire Nation, though wounded by the 100 Year War, had not fallen. The Fire Lord was a strong leader by all counts, but his resistance was futile. Years earlier the Earth Kingdom and its weak King had surrendered and was now basically a large Water Empire colony. Water Empire citizens lived within the city walls of Ba Sing Se and Omashu, as well as small colonies outside of the major cities. In the years since Hakoda became Emperor the Water Empire had come much closer to overtaking the Fire Nation, and everyone knew it was only a matter of time.

Their forces had taken a major blow when the Princess of the Fire Nation had been captured and killed during a raid on the shores of a Fire Nation city that rested at the very edge of the Fire Nation's land. After five days of continuous fighting, the Water Empire had lost the battle, but the Fire Nation had lost their Princess. According to Water Empire sources inside the Fire capital, the Fire Lord had a second-born son he was keeping hidden away in case he ever fell from power, but no one had seen the boy in his 14 years. Emperor Hakoda was not concerned, however. At 14 his daughter was the most gifted bender in all of the nations—he had no reason to care about a boy that most people didn't even believe existed. Besides, soon the Fire Nation would burn in its own fire, and there would be no one to pick it up from the ashes.